MP3 to 3D-printed record

[hmg]

http://boingboing.net/2012/12/22/howto-convert-an-mp3-to-a-play.html

Nice work - hearing the first efforts, they're satisfyingly lo-fi

 

[connect_icut]

It's interesting that the reason it's so lo-fi is that she had to down-convert the digital audio to 5bit 11khz to make the printing possible, rather than being something to do with the actual physical object.

 

[hmg]

It's interesting that the reason it's so lo-fi is that she had to down-convert the digital audio to 5bit 11khz to make the printing possible, rather than being something to do with the actual physical object.

Yes, plenty of room for improvement. Very cool that she's done it.
Could celluloid be printed like this within the next 10 years? ie printing off fresh reels of film for projection, maybe even on-the-fly in the projector room for cinephiles. Brave new world, this one.

 

[mistersloane]

yay! more shitty plastic crap for the world.

 

[droid]

Why would you ever want to do this? The whole point of vinyl is that it's analogue.

 

[connect_icut]

yay! more shitty plastic crap for the world.

No, I think the whole point of 3D printing is it brings up the possibility of fewer surplus manufactured goods. If this technology got really good, it would create the possibility of true vinyl on-demand. In other words, you could have any album or song you wanted on vinyl, whenever you wanted it but no unwanted records would ever be manufactured, which would be great for record buyers, labels and the environment.

Why would you ever want to do this? The whole point of vinyl is that it's analogue.

Seems to me the digital/analogue distinction that is the basis of so much music discourse these days is pretty spurious for the most part. In any case, I can guarantee you that, for most vinyl releases these days, the acetates/dubplates are cut from digital masters. That's certainly true of the records I've done. Very few records these days will be AAA but - personally - I find that when the first two stages are D, having the last one be A improves things greatly.

 

[mistersloane]

No, I think the whole point of 3D printing is it brings up the possibility of fewer surplus manufactured goods. If this technology got really good, it would create the possibility of true vinyl on-demand. In other words, you could have any album or song you wanted on vinyl, whenever you wanted it but no unwanted records would ever be manufactured, which would be great for record buyers, labels and the environment.

It's a really nice thought and I get your point and I wish it would happen and no doubt it will on a small scale...but when those printers come down in price it just means people making replicas of their cocks in plastic and bluetoothing them to their friends.

 

[IdleRich]

"Why would you ever want to do this? The whole point of vinyl is that it's analogue."

And it looks cool.

 

[droid]

Its the worst of both worlds. If you want to play digital on vinyl buy Serato.

 

[hmg]

The point is being missed here. It's a proof of concept and demonstrates how far 3D printing has come along and how it has some way to go. The last thing it is is some sort of musical exercise.

 

[droid]

I would've thought those printed gun parts and personalised Japanese figurines of yourself were the big things this year.

Perhaps the quality of printed vinyl could act as some kind of marker for future advances as I doubt it will be possible for a long time due to the outrageous high resolution needed to replicate the analogue curves of a cutting head.

 

[Sectionfive]

 

[Chef Napalm]

Have you done this?? Where did you get this?

Edit: Never mind. I googled it.